Chapter - 9

"What do you mean you can't find her?"

"It's not that I can't find her, it's like she's nowhere and everywhere all at once Buffy. I've never seen anything like it; she must be using some powerful magic's to keep herself hidden like this." Willow was beyond frustrated, and she really didn't like what she was doing on top of it. There was also a nagging feeling that something else was going on. There was something strange about that whole area and something strange about Faith's Slayer essence, but she wasn't about to tell Buffy that.

After calling Faith repeatedly for the last five days and getting nothing but voice mail and no return call, Buffy went from being just simply pissed off to ballistic. Fine she thought, Faith wanted to play then she would play too. If Faith wasn't going to come to them, then Buffy would go to her. She changed her mind quickly when she realized she'd be going into unfamiliar territory and obviously after the other day Faith wasn't running around on the playground alone. So she decided she'd much rather have Faith brought to her, this way she could ensure the deck would be stacked in her favor.

Willow had tried to talk her out of it, but in the end had complied. She was the leader. She, not Faith, was in charge. Something Faith had conveniently forgotten and Buffy was determined she was going to make Faith remember that, even if she had to beat it into her thick skull.

"Well keep trying Will you'll figure out a way around it, you always do."

"Sure Buffy." Eventually she would figure it out and that was exactly what Willow was afraid of. Because if she was honest with herself, Willow wasn't totally sure what she would do with the information once she did get it.

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Faith was sitting on the curb outside of the Clubhouse, a single bag with all her worldly possessions next to her. Oddly enough she was reading a book on Fae culture that Trick had given her while she waited for Bo and or Kenzi to get home. If Giles could only see her now. The book was interesting if nothing else. The Fae had tons of rules, traditions, and customs. It was a miracle anyone managed to remember them, let alone keep them straight.

Idly she wondered if she should just slide the keys to Bo's car under the door. Bo had been kind enough to lend her, her car a few days ago. A car which had been affectionately named Tweedy by Kenzi.

Faith had gone back to the abandoned warehouse the day after she had slayed the five ex-Slayers. She searched the place from top to bottom and had found all five ex-Slayers possessions hidden under a floorboard in the manager's office. There was also a diary of sorts among Gina's possessions. It had a brief account of how they were turned. Sketchy details of what their plans were, but most importantly it had a list of names of other Slayers that had been turned. It seemed though once they had gotten here Gina had lost interest in writing in the diary, so Faith was back to virtually square one.

As much as she didn't want to, Faith knew she had to call Giles and let him know what was going on. She needed to call him anyway; she was almost completely out of cash. There hadn't been a deposit to her account this week. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had made sure of that.

No time like the present. She thought to herself.

"Giles speaking."

"Hey G-man."

"Faith, how are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Fine, fine, thank you."

"Listen G, seemed Gina wasn't lying about there being other turned Slayers."

"That's most disconcerting news. Do you know how many?"

"Around twenty, but I'm pretty sure there are more. Gina and gang weren't working alone. Someone else is running the show, but I don't know who yet. They're targeting the Slayers we haven't brought into the fold yet. Gina had a diary of sorts, I'm gonna send it to you express mail, maybe you can figure out what they're planning. She almost made it sound like it was some kind of prophesy they're fulfilling."

"Yes, yes, that would be helpful; in the meantime I'll start searching through the library here. Faith you do realize that I'm going to have to tell Buffy about this."

"Yeah G, I understand. This is bigger than B and I."

"I do apologize; I should have nipped her tantrum in the bud."

"Not your fault Giles, me and B, we're just oil and water. Always have been, guess we always will be."

"That still doesn't make it right, nor does it excuse her behavior or mine for that matter."

"It's all good Giles, but there is one thing."

"Yes."

"Kinda running low on cash, don't even have enough to pay for a room tonight. Seems someone forgot to put money in my account this week..."

"Would you like me to book a room for you?"

"Nah, it's cool, won't be the first time I had to squat somewhere for the night." She wanted to say yes, but that would mean he would know exactly where she was. It wasn't Giles she didn't trust, what she didn't trust was that somehow, someway Buffy would find out. Like she said it wouldn't be the first time she had to squat somewhere for the night. It hadn't killed her before and it sure as hell wouldn't kill her now.

"If you change your mind please let me know. I shall make a deposit first thing tomorrow when the bank opens from my own personal funds, since the council funds seem to have dried up without my knowledge."

"No G, don't want you dipping into your own money. I'll figure something out… always have before."

"I insist Faith… you shouldn't need to figure something out… you should have never needed to do that… I want to do this for you... so I must insist."

She thought about arguing with him. But there was something in his voice that told her, he wanted, no… needed to be there for her now, in a way he hadn't before. "Thanks Giles I appreciate it." Faith said graciously and she meant it.

"You're very welcome, and Faith…"

"Yeah?"

"Please proceed with caution, I would hate for anything to happen to you. And should you need anything else, anything at all, please don't hesitate to call me."

"Thanks again Giles, I'll have the diary out to you tomorrow."

Well that call certainly wasn't what she expected, she had misjudged him. And just maybe she had misjudged the others as well. Maybe this was just as much her fault. She wasn't the most forthcoming of people and if she was honest she hadn't really tried that hard after the fall of Sunnydale to mend the bridges and make friends with the Scoobs. Buffy well, that was a whole other story; she doubted they would ever be more than polite or even impolite acquaintances, if that.

"Deep thoughts?"

Faith actually jumped, she thought she was alone on the street. How the hell had they snuck up on her? "Christ, you scared the shit out of me Kenzi!"

"Score one for the human."

"I see you brought Tweedy back safe and sound."

"And fully fueled too."

"You didn't have to do that, especially since she was on E when I gave her to you."

"Just my way of saying thanks, Bo."

"Any time Faith and thank you."

"No problem… well... I'm gonna get going, maybe I'll see you two at the Dal later. Thanks again Bo." Faith picked up her bag; she had barely taken five steps before Bo called out to her. She stopped and turned around.

"You know you're welcome to stay here tonight Faith.'

"Heard all that, I guess." Faith had thought about asking them if she could stay there for the night. But she hadn't wanted Bo to feel like she was obligated because of what had happened between them. It was stupid she knew, but she had never been in this situation before. She wasn't quite sure what to do or how to act.

"Pretty much."

"I was gonna ask you Bo, but I didn't want you to feel like you had to. And with having luggage, the whole U-Haul scenario came to mind so I rethought asking and…" Again with the channeling Willow shit.

"And that's my queue to exit stage left." Kenzi headed towards the front door, she had her hands full with those two. They were socially stunted; you'd think they had never dated anyone before. Oh that's right, they hadn't. Lauren and Dyson didn't count. Because in reality Bo hadn't really dated them and as far as she knew until Bo, Faith had never even spent a whole night with anyone before. Talk about late bloomers, it was a miracle either of them had made it this far.

Right before Kenzi entered the house she decided it was best to make the choice for Faith, for both of them actually, so she yelled over her shoulder. "I'm making pasta take-out for dinner tonight. So you get to make breakfast take-out tomorrow morning Faith."

Bo smirked at Faith, opting to go the same route as Kenzi and said, "I like my coffee black with two sugars."

Faith smirked back at Bo, she knew there was no arguing with these two, she'd only lose. "I'll try to remember that tomorrow morning Tinkerbell, though you might have to spot me the cash, kinda short right now."

"Can do, Faith, it's one of the many things friends…" Bo winked at Faith and started heading for the front door, "and even my favorite friends-with-benefits do for each other." And just as easy as that with no pressure, leaving the choice up to Faith, Bo let Faith know what she wanted.

"Maybe later you can show me the benefits that come with the friends-with package." It was, Faith realized as she followed Bo into the house, just as easy as that.